The Richest Man in Town
by a fan
Summary: A look at Logan's 'Wonderful Life' from yet another perspective. Inspired by the awesome "It's a Wonderful Life" stories posted this Christmas season.


Disclaimer: I don't own em'  
  
Title: The Richest Man in Town  
  
Author: a fan  
  
Rating: G  
  
Feed back: Always welcome! Email me at afanofda@yahoo.com  
  
Acknowledgments: To the awesome DA writers out there who wrote a slew of heartwarming 'Wonderful Life' fics. You definitely inspired me to make this little contribution.  
  
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The Richest Man in Town  
  
"Max!" "Max!" Logan started shouting even before he came crashing through the door, snow from a rare Seattle snowstorm, clinging to his hair. He had to find her. He thought he had failed her, but he had seen what her life would have been without him and he would never have wished that on anyone. He didn't care about himself anymore. She was the only thing that was truly important in his life. All he wanted was for Max to be happy.  
  
"Max!" "Max!" He continued to yell as he stormed into his apartment, but instead of Max he found two men waiting for him. One was an attorney he vaguely recognized from the D.A.'s office and the other was a police officer who had obviously come along for additional 'security'.  
  
"Welcome gentlemen." Logan grabbed their hands and shook them enthusiastically. His voice didn't reveal a hint of the ironic sense of humor that normally presented itself in times of stress. "Merry Christmas!"  
  
"Mr. Cale." The stunned D.A. began. "We have a warrant.."  
  
"For my arrest. A matter of a ten million dollars." Logan grinned, not able to hide his happiness. They had done it. Eyes Only's enemies had finally succeeded in finding him. Their plan had been perfect. They hadn't been able to kill him so they just buried him alive in a financial disaster that he would never be able to extricate himself from. They had laid a perfect trail from his uncle's company to him. Logan knew that with his already diminished resources he would never be able to fight this, not if he sold every piece of artwork or even his apartment. He had nowhere to turn. He didn't know anyone with sufficient resources to help him. Everything had imploded.  
  
A blinding light suddenly flashed before Logan's eyes. For a moment he stood there stunned, then his vision eventually cleared to reveal two more men, one with a camera and another scribbling furiously in a notebook.  
  
"Reporters. Isn't it wonderful!" He laughed. Tomorrow the world would know the 'truth' about Eyes Only.  
  
"Max!" "Have you seen Max?" He kept yelling as he raced from room to room shoving doors open. As he backed out of the bedroom he cracked his shin against his wheelchair, which he had abandoned there a few hours earlier. Normally he would have slammed the offending chair into the wall, but instead he gently placed a hand on a wheel and pushed it aside. He had wasted so many hours of frustration on that chair. It had been the symbol of all his failures. But now he was grateful to have it. He was grateful for everything in his life.  
  
At that moment Max came blasting through the door shaking the snow from her hair and brushing it off her leather jacket.  
  
"Logan!" "Logan!" Max's voice rang through the apartment. They quickly found each other and Max threw herself at Logan with a force that almost knocked them both over.  
  
"Max you won't believe what's happened." Logan said with pure joy at being able to wrap his arms around her once again. They held onto one another as if they had been separated for years not just a couple of hours.  
  
"It's a miracle Logan." Max said with uncharacteristic reverence as she led him to the dining room table. "Don't move!" she ordered, rapidly recovering her characteristic cocky attitude.  
  
"Cindy! You can come in now!" She yelled at the door as Cindy walked in followed by an enthusiastic Jam Pony crew.  
  
"Get over here you fool!" Cindy yelled at Sketchy, dragging him out of the crowd by the scruff of the neck, and pushing him towards the table.  
  
"We pooled our tips." Sketchy grinned as he dumped a bicycle helmet full of cash onto the table. "Gotta keep Eyes Only on the air." He added quickly then beat it out of the way before Cindy could give him another smackdown.  
  
Logan was stunned.  
  
"Max's dealio." Cindy explained enthusiastically in response to Logan's expression. "She got on the net and let a few people know that our man Eyes Only was in trouble. You think you trippin' now? This is gonna blow your mind!"  
  
A wave of people began streaming into the apartment. Logan recognized a few of them, Sam and Beverly, Max's boss Normal, even Max's former roommate Kendra and her boyfriend. His friends Joe and Susan were also in the crowd, along with their recently adopted daughter Maria. He couldn't believe they had braved the snow to drive all the way into town. But most of the faces he didn't recognize.  
  
"Who are all these people?" Logan whispered to Max in shock.  
  
"Logan, this is from my boy." Matt Sung suddenly appeared in front of him and dropped twenty bucks on the table. "He cracked open his piggy bank."  
  
"Thanks for the game." The child said grinning as his dad ruffled his hair.  
  
"And this is from me." Matt continued as he dropped several hundred dollars more onto the table then reached out to shake Logan's hand. "Christmas bonus."  
  
As Matt led his son away a stream of girls and their parents pushed forward through the crowd. Most appeared to be about thirteen or fourteen years old, but some were as young as ten. The happy looks on their fresh faces suggested that they were doing nothing more than coming to a fun Christmas party, but their parents' eyes revealed much more. These parents had received the greatest gift they could have ever wished for. They had their daughters with them for Christmas. The girls whispered and giggled into each other's ears and finally pushed one of their group to the front. She shyly walked forward and emptied a knapsack full of cash onto the table.  
  
"Our babysitting money." She said simply then hurried back into the giggling mass.  
  
"You got us off that boat alive." A man Logan had never seen before came forward and dropped a check for several thousand dollars on the table. "This was my emigration fund, but I no longer want to leave this country. I'm going to stay here and make it work." He said sincerely as he shook Logan's hand.  
  
"Quiet!" Bling's bellow hushed the buzzing crowd. "Just got an email from Sebastian."  
  
"Heard you have a cashflow challenge. My office instructed to advance you up to twenty million dollars immediately. Additional funds available as required." Bling read, causing a roar of approval to spread through the room.  
  
"Cindy! That calls for some wine." Max shouted to her friend who quickly broke out several bottles from Logan's stash and proceeded to fill numerous glasses, which she passed into the crowd.  
  
"Logan, we were heading off to a warmer climate for the holidays, but when we heard what had happened we cancelled our flight and headed right over." Bennett and Marianne slipped through the crowd and smiled at Logan as someone placed a glass of wine in each of their hands. Bennett contemplated his glass for a moment then held it up to Logan.  
  
"A toast!" He proclaimed garnering the crowd's attention. "To my cousin Logan. The richest man in town."  
  
The crowd cheered once more and parted again as a new wave of arrivals surged forward sweeping the district attorney and the police officer in its wake. They too made their contributions and stepped aside to watch the phenomenon that they were only beginning to understand. Hours later they were still arriving, countless people, each with their own stories to tell and contributions to make. Each one wanting to personally thank Eyes Only.  
  
"They're your friends." Max finally answered Logan's question as he continued to shake the hand of each person that approached him.  
  
Just before dawn the reporter and photographer worked their way out the door and past the hopelessly clogged elevator to the stairwell. They fought their way through the crowd that continued to swarm up the stairs and finally reached the street. They didn't even bother to try and retrieve their cars, which they knew they would never be able to get out of the parkade.  
  
"It's not that they love him, but that he loved them first." The reporter commented quietly to the photographer who nodded his head in understanding.  
  
As they began their walk home, a river of headlights streaming from every direction glowed against the violet sky. 


End file.
